strabismus \str3-'biz-ni3s\ or squint or heterotropia
X.het-o-rs-'tro-pe-oX Failure of the eyes to align properly to focus on an object. The affected eye may deviate in any direction, including inward (cross-eye) or outward (walleye). Problems with photoreception or the nerves that relay images to the brain cause a constant degree of deviation (comitant); defects in the nerves that control the muscles that move the eyes cause deviation that varies with the direction of gaze (noncomitant). Both types impede development of a child’s ability to focus the eyes and merge images from the two retinas into one (fusional reflex). The brain suppresses the image from the deviant eye, which may become function¬ ally blind. Treatment may involve exercises to strengthen the weak eye or surgery or both.
Strabo \'stra-bo\ (b. c. 64 bc, Amaseia, Pontus, Asia Minor—d. after ad 21) Greek geographer and historian. Born to a well-connected family, he studied under Aristodemus before moving to Rome (44 bc) to study with the Aristotelian school, then became a Stoic. Of his 47-volume Histori¬ cal Sketches, covering the years 145-31 bc (published c. 20 bc), only a few quotations remain. His Geographical Sketches (after c. ad 14) is the only extant work on the range of peoples and countries known to Greeks and Romans during the reign of Caesar Augustus.
Strachey Vstra-che\, (Giles) Lytton (b. March 1, 1880, London, Eng.—d. Jan. 21, 1932, Ham Spray House, near Hungerford, Berkshire) English biographer and critic. After studying at Cambridge, he became a leader in the Bloomsbury group. Though a self-identified homosexual, he was engaged very briefly to Virginia Woolf. Adopting an irreverent atti¬ tude to the past, he opened a new era of biographical writing with his Eminent Victorians (1918), consisting of four sketches of Victorian idols whom he portrayed as multifaceted, flawed human beings. Fascinated by personality and motive, he treated his subjects idiosyncratically and some¬ what cynically. He also published Queen Victoria (1921), Elizabeth and Essex (1928), Portraits in Miniature (1931), and critical writings, espe¬ cially on French literature.
Stradivari N.stra-de-'var-eV Antonio (b. 1644?, Cremona, Duchy of Milan—d. Dec. 18, 1737, Cremona) Italian musical-instrument maker. An apprentice of Nicolo Amati (from c. 1666), he established his own busi¬ ness in Cremona, eventually working with his sons Francesco (1671— 1743) and Omobono (1679-1742). Though he made other instruments (including harps, lutes, mandolins, and guitars), few survive, and after 1680 he concentrated on violins. Moving away from the Amati style, he developed (c. 1690) the “long Strad.” The Stradivari method of violin making created a standard for subsequent times; he devised the modem form of the violin bridge and set the proportions of the modem violin, with its shallower body that yields a more powerful and penetrating tone than earlier violins. The period 1700-20 is considered the peak of his pro¬ ductivity and quality.
Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of (b. April 13, 1593, London, Eng.—d. May 12, 1641, London) English politician and leading
adviser to Charles I. Although an outspoken member of the opposition, he switched his support to the crown when offered a barony in 1628. As lord president of the north (1628-33), he quelled defiance to the crown. As lord deputy of Ireland (1633-39), he consolidated the royal authority, extended English settlement, reformed the administration, and increased revenues for the crown. He was recalled to command Charles’s army against a Scottish revolt, but the costly war was opposed by the Long Par¬ liament; as a target representing the king’s authority, he was impeached by the Parliament in 1640. Strafford was accused of subverting the laws (he had offered to bring over the Irish army to subdue the king’s oppo¬ nents in England); when it looked as though he might be acquitted, John Pym, the leader of the House of Commons, had a bill of attainder passed that condemned Strafford to death. Strafford released the king from his promise of protection, and Charles gave his consent to the bill. Strafford was subsequently beheaded in the presence of an immense and jubilant crowd.
strain In the physical sciences and engineering, a number that describes the relative deformation of elastic, plastic, and fluid materials under applied forces. It arises throughout the material as the particles of the material are displaced from their usual position. Normal strain is caused by forces perpendicular to planes or cross sections of the material, such as in a volume that is under pressure on all sides. Shear strain is caused by forces that are parallel to, and lie in, planes or cross sections, such as in a short metal tube that is twisted about its longitudinal axis. See also DEFORMATION AND FLOW.
strain gauge Device for measuring the changes in distances between points in solid bodies that occur when the body is deformed. Strain gauges are used either to obtain information from which stresses in bodies can be calculated or to act as indicating elements on devices for measuring such quantities as force, pressure, and acceleration.
Straits Question Recurrent controversy in the 19th-20th centuries over the passage of warships through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits between the Black Sea and the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. Both straits were in Turkish territory, but when Russia gained control of the northern shore of the Black Sea, its ships were given free passage. Rus¬ sia sought to control the passage of non-Turkish ships with the Treaty of Hunkar Lkelesi (1833), but it was reversed by the London Straits Conven¬ tion (1841). The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) allowed free passage to all warships, until it was revised by the Montreux Convention (1936) to rees¬ tablish Turkey’s right to restrict access by navies of non-Black Sea states.
Straits Settlements Former British crown colony, on the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. It comprised three trade centres, Penang, Sin¬ gapore, and Malacca, which were established or taken over by the Brit¬ ish East India Company. United in 1826 under Indian control, they were made a crown colony by the British in 1867. Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, and Labuan were added in the early 20th century. Occupied by the Japanese during World War II, the colony was broken up in 1946 when Singapore became a separate colony. The remaining parts were ultimately ceded to Australia and Malaysia.
Strand, Mark (b. April 11, 1934, Summerside, P.E.I., Can.) Canadian- born U.S. poet and writer of short fiction. Educated in the U.S., he taught at several American universities. His poetry, influenced by Latin Ameri¬ can surrealism and European writers such as Franz Kafka, is known for its symbolic imagery and its minimalist sensibility. His volumes include the collections Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964), The Story of Our Lives (1973), and Blizzard of One (1998); Dark Harbor (1993), a book- length poem; and Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories (1985). He was named U.S. poet laureate in 1990.
Strand, Paul (b. Oct. 16, 1890,
New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. March 31,
1976, Oregeval, France) U.S. pho¬ tographer. He studied photography with Lewis Hine. At Hine’s urging, he frequented Alfred Stiegutz’s “291” gallery; the avant-garde paintings by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, and Georges Braque that he saw there led him to emphasize abstract form and pattern in his photographs, such as Wall Street (1915). He rejected soft- focus Pictorialism in favour of the
White Fence, photograph by Paul Strand, 1916.